With a brief of 7 September 1886 it was elevated to an archdiocese, becoming metropolitan (7 June 1887), through the addition of Mangalore and Trichinopoly (2 Oct. 1893). It underwent territorial changes: important was that arranged by the Convention between the Holy See and Portugal, 15 Apr. 1928. Within the territory of the archdiocese were included the missions of Ahmedabad (Jesuits) and Karachi (Franciscan friars), whose ecclesiastical superiors were first appointed in 1934; that of Karachi (v.) was detached with its erection into a diocese (bull 20 May 1948).
Respectively for the two circumscriptions, de facto distinct, the following statistical data are provided:
I. BOMBAY (1947)
Area sq. km. 48,715; population (census 1946-47) 10,000,000 inhabitants; Catholics 178,216, catechumens 112; dissidents of Eastern rite 517; Protestants 120,864; Jews 80,324; Muslims 3,803,231. In the 79 parishes, 7 primary stations and 14 secondary stations, there are counted 158 Indian secular priests, 10 Jesuit priests of the Tarragona religious province, 8 Salesians of St John Bosco and one Franciscan; 60 scholastics (56 Jesuits, two Salesians); 45 lay brothers (21 Jesuits, two Salesians, 22 Franciscan tertiaries of Moinet Poinsur, India); 227 sisters from 11 different congregations, in which the Indian and Eurasian element is considerable. Furthermore: 137 catechists, 1,247 lay teachers. There exists a seminary with 20 clerics (two others in the Pontifical Seminary of Kandy, Ceylon) and 46 secondary school students.Schools: elementary 70 (11,132 pupils of both sexes), lower secondary seven (1,644), upper secondary 31 (23,332), vocational two (2,422), normal five (351). Other institutions: two hospitals, 8 dispensaries, 11 orphanages (1,737 orphans), four homes for the elderly (89 residents), one leper colony (60 patients); one printing press: noteworthy are the periodicals published there, namely The Examiner weekly (165,920 copies), The Messenger of the Sacred Heart monthly (43,300), Udentechem Neketr (80,681). Numerous and flourishing are the confraternities and other religious and charitable associations, including those of Catholic Action and the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith. The St Francis Xavier College is officially recognized as a university school.
II. AHMEDABAD (1948)
Area sq. km. 138,750; population (approximate calculation 1942) 9,600,000 inhabitants; Catholics 25,880, catechumens 746. In 1939 there were counted 24,790 Protestants, 342 Jews, 336,920 Muslims, 247,181 Jains, 10,143 Parsis. Mission personnel distributed (1948) in 12 primary stations and six secondary: three Jesuit priests of the Eastern Castile religious province, 25 scholastics and 10 lay brothers; 38 sisters from three different congregations, almost all Indian and Eurasian; 144 catechists; 75 teachers.Schools: elementary 108 (3,000 pupils of both sexes), lower secondary three (250), upper secondary two (144). Other works: two orphanages (231 orphans), 9 dispensaries (34,038 consultations in one year); two cooperative societies; one printing press: noteworthy are the periodicals published there, namely Messaggero del S. Cuore di Gesù in Gujarati (715 copies), The Ahmedabad Missionary (850), Ahmedabad in Spanish (1,200).
The preponderance of Hindus and Muslims in the archdiocese, the variety of ethnic groups, languages and social conditions, imposes a complex and careful missionary method, to which, in general, satisfactory results correspond, visible in the slow but sure leavening of Christian ferment even among the higher classes. Catholic institutions, both educational and charitable, enjoy ever greater trust, especially since some of their representatives, both religious and lay, hold important positions in civil administration.